While it has been over a month since impaired driving laws in Canada changed, there are still many questions among drivers using the road, and even more questions the courts may have to sort out.

On December 18, 2018, the new laws came into effect. Now, police officers have the ability to demand a roadside test without having to satisfy reasonable grounds that a driver has been drinking. Another change is that an officer can compel a person to provide a breath sample up to two hours after driving. The person does not need to be in the car or in the act of operating a vehicle.

Corporal Gerald Sherk of the Drumheller RCMP says while these changes seem shocking there is not too much that has changed from a policing perspective.

“From our point of view, not much has changed on how an impaired operation investigation goes.  The main thing that seems to have people concerned is mandatory alcohol screening. The police have the opportunity and ability to immediately demand a roadside breath sample from any driver they are interacting with. Now, if you don’t drink and drive that is not a concern,” he said.

    He says the other change allows police to follow up on impaired investigations.

“It removed a defence that was used fairly often where after an accident, a person would flee the scene and when they were located, they would say they consumed alcohol after the accident because they were stressed. The change that came about is that if you had an accident and we locate you and you are over the legal limit, we can still pursue the charge, even though you have left the scene,” he said.

Criminal defense lawyer Colin Kloot says he believes the roadside demand change will be challenged in court, but it may weather the storm.

    “It is totally unprecedented, but I think it would probably withstand a challenge under the Charter. Under Clause 1 of the Charter, if it is in the greater good of the community in general - you have to see if it violates that. Having sober people on the road is probably a good enough reason to implement it,” said Kloot. “I think it would withstand a charter challenge on the basis that they don’t have to have reasonable suspicion before they ask you to blow.”

The other changes may be more problematic.

“If you are saying they can follow you to your home and an hour later say, ‘give us a sample,’ -  if they do that, whether or not they are going to be able to show in a court of law that beyond reasonable doubt you were impaired at the time of driving? - that is going to be problematic for them,” he said.

He says the technology for breath samples is very exacting, but only at the time you produce the sample.

“If you haven’t been driving for an hour, it doesn’t show what your alcohol level was at the time of driving,” he explains. “That’s what is important.”

Sherk says police will still be tasked with a complete investigation.

“These still require thorough and complete investigation and consultations with crown counsel before we put charges forward. This isn’t ad hoc that is thrown together. When we are doing an investigation we do have to have our investigation locked down pretty tight,” he said.

He expects there will be challenges.

“Whatever action we take as police, we have to stand up in a courtroom and tell the judge why we did these things and clearly articulate what our grounds were and why we believe what we believe,” said Sherk.

Last week RCMP announced a Drumheller man’s arrest in relation to an overdose death of a 29-year-old woman last August, when she was found dead after overdosing on a mix of drugs, including carfentanil.

The story is the first one made public by RCMP in Drumheller, highlighting the presence and consequences of the powerful synthetic opioid in the community.

On August 24, RCMP responded to the sudden death of the woman and an autopsy later determined the cause of death was carfentanil, methamphetamine, and amphetamine toxicity. RCMP say trafficking charges have been laid against Chad McCann, 40 of Drumheller, after he was arrested on January 31.

The news comes as an Alberta Health report shows apparent drug poisoning deaths related to fentanyl are on the rise in the province. From January 1 to November 11 of 2018, 582 individuals died from an apparent fentanyl overdose. During the same period of 2017, 463 individuals fatally overdosed.

Alberta Health Services’ most recent quarterly report shows an increase for the Central Zone, which includes Drumheller, as they reported 46 fentanyl related deaths from January 1 to August 12, up slightly from 2017’s total count of 45.

The ‘fentanyl crisis’ is taking hold in Alberta, as police regularly seize quantities of fentanyl, a powerful, medical grade synthetic opiate which is hundreds of times stronger than heroin, and carfentanil, an even more powerful form of fentanyl. The Drumheller Institution reported a number of seizures and suspected overdoses from the drugs last year, but outside of the penitentiary, this recent overdose death is the first made public by RCMP in the community.

“We do have an issue in this community, as every community does,” says Drumheller RCMP Corporal Gerald Sherk, adding he doesn’t believe Drumheller is better or worse than surrounding communities.

“It’s an ongoing problem specifically because the synthetic opiates that are out there are so powerful, a small amount kills people. It doesn’t take a lot in the community for the effects to get noticed.”

He says users will purchase narcotics such as methamphetamine and be unaware that they fentanyl or carfentanil are also mixed into the bag. When RCMP seize drugs, samples are sent to a lab for testing and he says these drug reports often come back showing there is a variety of different drugs in the sample.

“It doesn’t take much for someone to die – it’s not like other drugs that cause other community problems but, which aren’t killing people, whereas here we have a small amount of the drug and finding people are dying,” he says.

The community also sees the effects of illegal drug use in the community.

“Drugs and crime always go hand-in-hand when you have users who are looking for enough money to get their next dose.... When you’re talking about some of the things people do either because they’re on drugs or their addiction is so bad they’ll literally do anything. I’d like to say I’m surprised by some of the stories that’s happened, but I’m really not. I’ve seen some people do some awful things to themselves or others to fulfill a habit,” Cpl. Sherk says.

RCMP attend every death outside of care facilities, and the evidence of drug overdoses is also self-evident – there’s often still drugs present, as well as paraphernalia, and other strong indicators. Drumheller RCMP have attended a number of drug overdoses in the last year, but Cpl. Sherk was not willing to say the exact number.

“Even one death is too many in these situations.”

photo is a stock image